Enhancing Women’s Participation in ICT and Other News from CEPIS - April 2013

Enhancing Women’s Participation in ICT and
Other News from CEPIS – April 2013

In
this issue

We
announce the publication of a CEPIS
statement on the issue of gender balance
in the ICT profession. We invite you to
take part in two European Commission
consultations and we include news from
CEPIS Member Societies in Germany,
Ireland, and Latvia. If you have any
feedback or you would like to send
contributions from your society for the
next update to be published in May 2013,
please email Michel Krmek.

CEPIS Women in ICT Task
Force Releases Position Statement

The CEPIS Women in ICT Task Force has
identified five priorities to get more
young girls and women into ICT and to
help close the digital jobs gap. The
declining supply of ICT graduates
coupled with the growing demand of
digital jobs is a serious threat for the
ICT profession, the sector and Europe’s
employment and growth potential. The
priorities identified by the Task Force
include the creation of a European Girls
in ICT Day, the promotion of strong
female ICT role models to inspire young
girls, and a greater integration of ICT
in the classroom and in the curriculum.
Read the CEPIS Women
in ICT Task Force Position Statement

50(13)
Council Meeting: 20 April in Dubrovnik,
Croatia

The
CEPIS Spring Council will take place on
Saturday 20 April in Dubrovnik, Croatia
at the Excelsior Hotel.
The Council Meeting will start at 08:30
and end around 16:00. There will be a
welcome reception in the hotel at 19:00
on Friday, 19 April, the evening prior
to Council. The 50(13) CEPIS Council
Draft Agenda and supporting
documentation are now available in the Member’s Area for
your perusal. For any queries please
contact Michel Krmek.

CEPIS
at the EeSA Board of Directors Meeting

CEPIS
attended the recent board of directors
meeting of the European e-Skills
Association (EeSA). CEPIS is a
founding member of EeSA which has for
mission to foster a competitive and
inclusive Europe where e-skills and
digital literacy drive innovation and
promote prosperity. EeSA played a
coordinating role in the European e-Competence
Framework (e-CF) Pledge launched
at the inauguration of the Grand
Coalition for Digital Jobs and supported
by CEPIS.

CEPIS
Computing in Schools SIN Meeting

Members
of the CEPIS Computing in Schools
SIN met last month in Brussels to
commence their task of creating
advocacy materials to enable
Member Societies to influence
their national governments. Over
the coming weeks the SIN will
start working on a position paper
which will be presented at the
Autumn Council meeting on 21
November in Brussels, Belgium. If
CEPIS Members would like to
nominate a representative please let us
know.

New
CEPIS Women in ICT Role Models Interviews

The CEPIS Platform of
Women in ICT role models was
recently updated with two new
interviews of women with successful
careers in ICT: Maria-Isabel
Sanchez-Segura from Spain and Sonja
Hof from Switzerland. This platform
showcases successful women in a
variety of dynamic ICT roles, with a
view to inspiring European youth,
and in particular young girls, to
consider a career in ICT. With this
initiative CEPIS aims to demonstrate
the creativity, versatility and
flexibility of the careers in ICT in
order to change the perception of
ICT among youth. Suggest a Female
ICT Role Model

F1
in Schools Initiative: ICS Inspiring Youth
to Pursue STEM Studies

The Irish Computer
Society (ICS) is
organising the successful F1 in Schools
competition in Ireland to raise the
interest of students in studies and
careers in the field of science,
technology, engineering, and
mathematics (STEM). F1 in Schools is
open to all secondary schools students
which are tasked to design, build and
race a miniature Formula 1 car of the
future. This challenge enables
students to get their hands on the
latest technology from the worlds of
technology, engineering and
manufacturing. Thank you to Blathin de
Paor from ICS for this contribution. More on the F1 in
Schools Initiative

German
Informatics Awards Students with the
InformatiCup Prize

InformatiCup is
an annual informatics competition
organised by German Informatics (GI)
which is aimed at students in Germany,
Austria and Switzerland. This
competition is designed to challenge
students to learn new technologies
independently and to develop solutions
using the knowledge acquired. Students
are asked to solve a series of tasks
by working in groups of two or four,
the objective is to develop their
communications skills and their
ability to solve problem collectively,
as they will do in their future work
life. The winners of the 2013
InformatiCup were recently announced
at the Computer Science Day in Bonn. More on the
InformatiCup

LIKTA
at the 2013 Northern Future Forum

The Northern Future Forum (NFF), held at the
end of February in Riga, Latvia, brought
together Prime Ministers, experts and
entrepreneurs of Nordic and Baltic
countries to discuss the digital divide
and the competitiveness of green
economies. The Latvian Information
Technology & Telecommunications
Association (LIKTA) was a
partner of the forum topic on bridging
the digital divide. On this occasion
LIKTA released a video showcasing
Latvian projects to foster e-inclusion
and an infographic
describing why Latvia is among the world
leaders in ICT. More on the Northern
Future Forum

ICS Conference on Data
Protection

The Irish Computer Society (ICS) recently
co-organised the 5th Annual Data
Protection Conference. The
conference looked at the new
legislative developments, trends and
emerging issues in data protection.
The planned changes to the European
Data Protection Directive were also
discussed. Speakers included Simon
Milner, Director of Policy (Ireland
and UK) of Facebook, and other
industry experts from a range of
companies to discuss what the future
holds for data privacy. Thank you to
Blathin de Paor from ICS for this
contribution. More on the 5th
Annual Data Protection Conference

LIKTA Organises 2013
Latvian e-Skills Week

The
Latvian Information Technology &
Telecommunications Association (LIKTA) recently
organised the 2013 Latvian e-Skills
Week. This national edition of the e-Skills
Week reached over 36,000 participants
across the whole country and 890
activities were organised by 200
event’s partners, ranging from
ministries and industry to schools and
libraries. The Latvian e-Skills Week
focused on raising awareness of young
people on ICT careers, as well as on
e-skills and ICT solutions for small
and micro-enterprises. More on the 2013
Latvian e-Skills Week

EC Consults Stakeholders
on ICT-Driven Public Sector Innovation

The
European Commission (EC) launched a
new public consultation on the topic
of research and innovation in
ICT-driven public sector innovation,
i.e. the use of ICT to improve the
efficiency, effectiveness and quality
of public services. The results of
this consultation will feed into the
preparation of the forthcoming Work
Programmes of Horizon 2020, the EU’s
new programme for research and
innovation. Participants are invited
to provide their thoughts on the
drivers and trends of ICT-driven
public sector innovation, as well on
the technology tools and enablers
thereof. The consultation is open
until 15 April 2013. Take Part in this
Consultation

EC
to Tackle Broadband Roll-out Costs

The
European Commission (EC) recently
proposed new rules that aim to cut
the cost of deploying high-speed
Internet by 30%. The current
patchwork of rules and
administrative practices at national
levels is slowing down the rolling
out of broadband. Moreover civil
engineering works, namely digging up
roads to install fibre, account for
up to 80% of the cost of deploying
broadband. With these new rules, the
EC aims to harmonise the procedures
for civil works, facilitate and
speed up the delivery of civil works
permits, and ensure that new or
renovated buildings are ready for
broadband Internet. More on the EC
Proposal to Cut Broadband Roll-out
Costs

Measuring the
Carbon Footprint of the ICT Sector

The European Commission is
working with 27 technology companies and
associations to establish a common
framework for the measurement of carbon
emissions arising from the production,
transport and sales of ICT goods and
services. Current calculations of these
emissions vary greatly and are dependent
on the differ methods used. For this
purpose the methodology of ten
international standards were tested by a
dozen ICT companies and associations.
The results indicate that the standards
pilot-tested are practically
implementable and compatible, which is a
key step towards agreeing on a common
methodological framework for measuring
the ICT carbon footprint. More on the Carbon
Footprint of the ICT Sector